


eighteen

by interitio



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Confessions, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fukuroudani, M/M, MSBY Black Jackals - Freeform, Pining, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24285046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interitio/pseuds/interitio
Summary: Akaashi and Bokuto in their years to come.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 2
Kudos: 63





	eighteen

It was Bokuto’s second year in Fukurodani when he met Akaashi. It was during the tryouts when a first year with black hair and gunmetal blue eyes. As the first years were introducing themselves, Bokuto placed his focus on the raven-haired boy, as he said. “I’m Akaashi Keiji from Mori Middle School. I play setter.” 

Bokuto perked up in interest. Their current setter, a third year, was planning to leave after Interhigh. The team knew they would need a setter for Spring High, and that they had to be able to synch in with the rest of the second years as soon as possible. 

Bokuto was currently the ace of the team, despite being a second year. He had a strong hit and was extremely good at cross shots. He had plenty of stamina and was a good wing skipper overall, However, he wasn’t extremely interested in volleyball and only played because he was good at it and he always was able to show off in front of everyone. There were already people suspecting that he would be able to make it to the top three in the nation for high school aces, which made him swell in pride. Despite not enjoying the sport, he practiced a lot, for the sake of it. 

After accepting the first years into the team, Bokuto decided to quickly work with the setter for the good of the team. 

“Hey, hey, hey! Akaashi, right? I’m Bokuto Koutarou, second year wing spiker!” He grinned at the smaller boy. 

“I do know who you are. I’ve seen your matches. Pleasure to meet you, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi replied with a straight face. 

“Want to set for me?” Bokuto asked, keep his smile on his face. 

“Sure, Bokuto-san.”

They spent the rest of practice working on synchronizing with each other, Akaashi trying to match with Bokuto. Bokuto realized that Akaashi was an observant person and could read people easily. He knew exactly how to fix his mistakes each time Bokuto failed to connect his palm to the ball and was asking Bokuto about each set. Before they knew it, practice was over, and they had to clean up and shower. 

After they were done, Bokuto walked up to Akaashi, asking, “Hey, where are you headed to?”

“Sakuradamon.”

“Hey! I get off that station too, the rest of these guys go to Kojimachi! Come with us!”

Just like that, Akaashi found himself growing closer to the second years rather than the first years. They were mostly regulars, and they all found Akaashi a good and reliable setter. He practiced with the regulars extremely often, and the third-year setter stepped down to let Akaashi take his place, after seeing his coordination with the team and his reliability. Soon, the official team was mostly made out of second years, with two third years and the first-year setter. 

Interhigh Tokyo Preliminaries came about and Fukurodani easily beat the teams, until the finals. Itachiyama had beaten them by getting three sets out of five, while Fukurodani only obtained one. It didn’t seem like a surprise, due to first years Sakusa Kiyoomi and Komori Motoya, both well-known in junior high, being on court. Bokuto groaned, as his hair drooped slightly, and he trudged off court. 

“Dammit, and we were avoiding this so well…” Akaashi heard Washio complain to himself. 

“What’s wrong with Bokuto-san?” Akaashi asked Konoha, who was ruffling his hair in frustration while looking at Bokuto. 

“He gets like this sometimes, upset and all. We did extremely well the previous matches, so we avoided it completely, but now that we were beaten…” Kohona sighed, watching Sarukui try to cheer Bokuto up by telling him that they’ve made it to Nationals anyway. 

“At least it didn’t happen on court, or we would have faced more issues against Itachiyama.” Washio said, walking up to Bokuto to help Sakurui. 

Ever since then, Akaashi has learnt about Bokuto’s weaknesses and how to handle his emo side. Interhigh was two weeks away then, and Akaashi has worked harder than before at practice to get up to his high expectations of himself. Bokuto did exceptionally well at his diagonal shots, as usual, but he couldn’t seem to be able to do his straights, so he had completely ignored it. He wanted to be the center of attention, but he didn’t care for volleyball enough to practice it. 

Interhigh started and Fukurodani lost in the second round. Bokuto’s emo mode had came up in the middle of the match and despite the team’s effort, they weren’t able to pull Bokuto back up. He apologized immensely for it and was upset the entire trip back to the cabin they stayed at. 

Spring High Tokyo Preliminaries. They once again were the runner-up, Itachiyama stealing the spotlight. Komori had received a lot of his spikes and Komi weren’t able to pick up Sakusa’s. He glared at Sakusa as he saw the guy stared at him blankly, before turning around to leave with his team. To everyone’s surprise, he didn’t get too upset about it, and promised to do good at Nationals. 

Spring High Tournament arrived. Akaashi had practiced a lot, as usual, synchronized with the team as perfectly as he was able to. They had improved, but no as much as they wanted. At the quarterfinals, Inarizaki destroyed them. The first-year twins Inarizaki placed in their teams were undoubtedly strong, along with the rest of their team. Inarizaki had picked them apart like foxes, finding their weaknesses and latching onto them, using it to their advantage. Oomimi Ren, the middle blocker, had obviously been set up to block specifically cross shots from Bokuto, leaving the straight unguarded each time. Whenever Bokuto went for a straight, their libero had easily dug the ball, sending it straight to Miya Atsumu. Bokuto felt his heart shatter into two because of that match, watching every of his spike being countered. 

Akaashi had helped, thankfully. He encouraged Bokuto to work on his spikes and had claimed that they would do better next time. 

Since then, Bokuto kept practicing his straight shots. He wanted to be good at straights like he was at crosses. Akaashi stayed back for extra practice after training to work with Bokuto, while the rest of the second years sighed. 

After the tournament, the third years left. Bokuto was made captain, to everyone’s surprise, while Akaashi became vice-captain. Bokuto was surprised. He didn’t even enjoy volleyball, and he was made captain of his team. 

Practice after practice. Akaashi became a second year, while Bokuto became a third year. They never failed to meet for lunch and went home together. Recently, however, he had been feeling more flustered around Akaashi. Whenever they brushed against each other slightly, Bokuto felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest. 

Was it a crush? He found his teammate insanely attractive, sure, but so did everyone else. Plenty of people had praised Akaashi for his looks and both girls and guys confessed to him before. He wasn’t sure if Akaashi liked guys though, he had the same reaction to each confession either way. Rejection.

He didn’t bother acknowledging the crush and kept going as usual. Practicing with Akaashi was no different from normal. They kept working on Bokuto’s straight shots and stayed back after training to put in some extra practice. 

Not acknowledging his crush was not working, his brain repeats rapidly. Akaashi had smiled at him softly when Bokuto hit one of the best straight shots in his life in a practice match against Shinzen. While he was panicking on the inside, he flashed a bright smile, yelling, “Hey, hey, hey! Did you see that straight, Akaashi?”

“Yes, Bokuto-san. It was excellent.” Akaashi replied, while the team laughed at Bokuto’s need of approval. 

The announcements for the high school volleyball rankings were out. Bokuto got to top five for the aces, extremely close to top three. He wasn’t too disappointed until he saw who claimed one of the spots above him. Sakusa Kiyoomi. The singular second-year up in the rankings. He also dully noted Komori Motoya’s postion as the top high school libero and Atsumu Miya’s Best Server Award. 

As time goes by, it was time for Interhigh Tokyo Preliminaries. Once again, they were shut down by Itachiyama. Bokuto keep talking about how they were going to beat them next time, causing the rest of the team to sweatdrop as Akaashi tried to calm him down. 

During their trip back to Fukurodani Academy, Konoha sighed to Washio, who sat beside him, “Thank god we have Akaashi to take care of Bokuto. It’s such a chore sometimes.”

“Yeah, I guess so. I wonder how Akaashi does it. He has such a stoic expression but he reads everything around him.”

Practice after practice, Fukurodani worked their way through as Interhigh came about. 

Game after game, Fukurodani climbed the ranks. However, they weren’t unstoppable. They had been matched with Inarizaki in the semifinals, which had Bokuto pumped to beat them. He wanted to be the star. He didn’t enjoy volleyball. 

It changed. A lot. Inarizaki, once again, was cracking them open, picking at their weaknesses. They had improved a lot, with the addition of the second year middle blocker. It was obvious that he was informed about his cross shots, seeing that they had went to block diagonally each time. 

The first two sets has passed, both had went in Inarizaki’s favor. They were currently in the middle of the third set, the score 17-15, with Fukurodani leading. Bokuto didn’t want to give up yet. He didn’t go to his emo mode, and called for the spike while running, his body facing slightly diagonally. “Akaashi!”

Akaashi let his toss sail to Bokuto. Three blockers, blocking the cross, once again. Bokuto remembered the last time he was blocked mercilessly by Inarizaki, due to the fact he couldn’t hit a straight. He could now. Adjusting his position in the air, he switched to a straight, blowing past all three blockers, watching the ball bounce of Akagi’s arm. 

He spun around, yelling, “Hey, hey, hey!” Akaashi was grinning at him, while the rest of Fukurodani went to pat his on the back and give him a high-five. He never felt such euphoria from volleyball before. Hearing the ball hit the libero’s arm, hearing it land on the ground, seeing the faces of the blockers who were stunned by the straight. That’s when he realized how much he enjoyed volleyball. 

They didn’t win against Inarizaki. They took the third set, beating them by 3 points after catching them offguard, but they quickly adapted and switched their methods to beat them. Bokuto didn’t care, though. He found his passion for volleyball and was going to enjoy every second of it. 

Fukurodani Volleyball Club was afterwards ranked as a top 4 team, which was their greatest achievement. Inarizaki lost to Itachiyama, leaving them as the runner-up. Fukurodani gained popularity quickly, the club being the talk of the town in their school. 

Bokuto’s heart was aching. Akaashi had helped him along every step of the way. Staying back for extra practice and comforted him whenever he was down. His heart raced and he felt butterflies in his stomach. It was terrifying to him. 

They did their best at the Spring High Tournament. Inarizaki was knocked out in their second round by Karasuno, and Itachiyama was beaten Inubushi East High. It was their opportunity to finally achieve their dreams, to win Nationals. Once again, they were stopped in their tracks. Ichibayashi had beaten them, taking 3 sets from them at the end. Despite it being their biggest accomplishment, they were extremely down. 

Bokuto knew it was his last game, and it was his best. He still felt upset about the loss, thinking he could have done much better, as the team’s captain and ace. He believed he let his team down, despite all the reassurance he received from them. 

It was his last year of high school. His crush on Akaashi grew immensely. He noticed the little things that no one would about him, and had hung out with him frequently. He wasn’t able to tell if Akaashi liked him back, so he kept it to himself, he was leaving anyways. There was no point in telling him. 

_I have loved you since you were 18._

A year passed. They kept in touch, despite the long distance, and he joined the MSBY Black Jackals. They were a strong team, and Bokuto found himself fitting in perfectly. A year later, Miya Atsumu joined. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t get along at first, but grew closer over time. 

Akaashi and Bokuto called often after Akaashi got his job as an editor for a major publisher. He was informed of Akaashi working with the former Little Giant, Udai Tenma. Their relationship didn’t waver after separation in high school and were close as ever. 

Soon, Sakusa Kiyoomi joined. He had went to college and joined a team, and earned the MVP title in a recent tournament. Immediately, Atsumu had went to harass him, which earned him a slap on the head by Meian. 

The team grew in strength. They slowly climbed the ranks each season and worked themselves plenty. Akaashi watched all of his matches, sometimes brining Udai along. His crush on Akaashi did not die down with time, to his dismay. If anything, it was worse. He tried to ignore it once again, not wanting to ruin their relationship currently. 

_Long before we thought the same thing._

They had reached the finals, MSBY Black Jackals against the Schweiden Alders. Hinata had joined the team and they were against Kageyama, his old setter. 

The match went by, and after a long game, Black Jackals were the winners. They shook hands from under the net and went to meet with their high school friends. Bokuto had immediately rushed to Akaashi, yelling, “Hey, hey, hey! Akaashi!” 

_To be loved, to be in love._

Bokuto engulfed him in a hug, which caused Akaashi to laugh softly. 

_All I can say is that these arms were made for holding you._

“Congrats, Bokuto-san. It was a well-played game.” Akaashi said in his arms. Udai pat Akaashi on the back, shooting him a glance before walking up to Hinata to talk to him. 

“Bokuto-san, I have to tell you something.” He murmured, earning a confused look from Bokuto. 

“Yeah?”

“I like you. I should have told you a long time ago, and I needed to say it.” Akaashi had a calm tone on, while nervously fidgeted in Bokuto’s arms. 

Bokuto felt his world spin. Akaashi liked him back. “I like you too, Akaashi!” He grinned, resting his head on Akaashi’s shoulder as he heard the smaller man let out a sigh of relief. 

_I wanna love like you made me feel,_

_When we were 18._

**Author's Note:**

> i was not okay writing this it was like 5 in the morning


End file.
